A shoe is invariably manufactured on a last which is a rigid form having dimensions corresponding exactly to the internal size and shape of the shoe being made, that is of standard foot shape and corresponding to either a right or left foot of a predetermined standard length and width. The vamp and sole are built up in stages on this last which is not normally removed until the shoe is 100% complete.
For the standard manual manufacture of footwear the last has a very short stem projecting from the top of the shoe and formed with a bore open perpendicular to the shoe sole. Each station of the manufacturing chain is provided with a peg that fits complementarily into this bore to hold the last and the partially manufactured shoe in a predetermined position for whatever steps are to be carried out at that station. The partial finished shoes are typically put on.and taken off these pegs with their lasts manually and can be transported by a belt or similar system from station to station.
Adaptation of such lasts to a robot-type of automatic manufacture has not yielded satisfactory results. The peg mounting is not sufficiently accurate to ensure sufficiently precise positioning of the shoe and last to allow automatic machinery to work on the shoe. In addition the automatic equipment must be able to ascertain what type, size, or side (right or left) the shoe is for, so that the equipment, even if partially automated, must be loaded and worked with in large part by hand.